Breakdown of Vamos içar as velas como o capitão ordenar.
ir
to go
o capitão
the captain
como
as (in comparisons)
içar
to hoist
a vela
the sail
ordenar
to order
Questions & Answers about Vamos içar as velas como o capitão ordenar.
Why is ordenar in the future subjunctive instead of the present indicative?
In English, we often use the present tense for this kind of phrase ("as the captain orders"). In Portuguese, because the captain's specific order is a pending, future event that hasn't happened yet, conformity conjunctions like como and conforme require the future subjunctive.
Wait, ordenar looks exactly like the infinitive. How can I tell it's the future subjunctive?
For all regular verbs, the future subjunctive is spelled exactly the same as the personal infinitive. You can identify it here through the context: the conjunction como projecting into a pending future action always triggers the subjunctive. If you swapped it for an irregular verb, the unique subjunctive form would be obvious, such as como o capitão disser (future subjunctive of dizer).
Could I use conforme instead of como here?
Yes, absolutely! conforme is another conformity conjunction that behaves exactly the same way. Vamos içar as velas conforme o capitão ordenar would mean the exact same thing and also requires the future subjunctive.
The English translation says "exactly as", but I don't see a word for "exactly" in Portuguese. Is it implied?
Yes, it is implied. The Portuguese sentence literally means "We will hoist the sails as the captain orders." The word "exactly" was added to the English translation to naturally capture the strict sense of compliance that this sentence carries, but no extra word is needed in Portuguese to convey that.
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